“You’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything You’ve got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string”

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way If there’s a price for bein’ me, that’s one I’ll have to pay”

Those words from the choruses from Arron Tippin’s signature songs “You’ve Got To Stand For Something” and “I Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way” seem to ring true today as they did in the early 90’s when the songs crested the Billboard Country Top 10. Today Arron Tippin is still recording music and touring, and is currently working on a 25th Anniversary album, and is ringing a tune about how the tide might be turning for country in the right direction, finally.

This time last year or the year before, quotes from veteran country stars criticizing the direction of country music seemed to be nearly a daily occurrence. Now it seems the sands have shifted, or at least that’s the sense Arron Tippin gets.

“Certainly country music went into an entirely different direction than what it was in the ’90s when I was having hits,”Tippin told Go386.com ahead of a show at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach on Tuesday, 1/27. “It got to where it was about the beat instead of the lyrics. All of us out of the ’90s are all sitting around going, ‘Wow, I wish a great song mattered again,’ you know. I gotta say that here recently the industry seems like they’re trying to swing back. There are songs out there that are starting to have some life to them, have some meaning. That’s the core of great country music it’s the songs.”

As Tippin says, country music appears to be shifting away from so-called “Bro-Country” to music of a little more substance lately, and though there still seems to be much more work to be done and a few more Bro-Country hits could still materialize (or something even worse to take its place), positive signs that country is moving in a more positive direction are appearing. From Carrie Underwood cresting the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for seven straight weeks with “Something In The Water” while Florida Georgia Line’s “Sun Daze” stands pat many slots back, to Florida Georgia Line releasing a song like “Dirt,” the backlash against Bro-Country is starting to have an effect.

Arron Tippin says he wasn’t immune from his record label trying to use him to chase trends back in his heyday, but most of his successes came from his own hand.

“…several times the record labels tried to whitewash me, take me in another direction,” Tippin says. “Boy, every time we tried it, it was a mistake. I don’t think they maliciously did it. They thought they were trying to do the right thing…Truth is every time we had success, only one time was it from somebody else’s song. I’m not trying to say I’m the greatest songwriter who ever lived, but what I did matched me well. I think people related to that.”

2015 counts 25 years for Arron Tippin writing, singing, and performing country music, and he has plans to celebrate the milestone by embarking on a 25th Anniversary tour and a new album that will feature both new music, and new versions of some of his older songs. Though Tippin missed being part of the “Class of ’89” by one year—a class that included Garth Brooks, Clint Black, and Alan Jackson—he’s one of the artist who’s benefiting from the effort to put older country music back on the radio through NASH Icon and other more classic-oriented country stations.

“I can’t believe it’s been 25 years since I started this amazing journey,” Tippin says. “It’s so much fun to look back on these last 25 years and to still look forward to many more.”

71 Comments

Brandon
January 26, 2015 @
7:40 pm

It’s great that we’re starting to get more substance. But I worry that we’ll never get rid of these hip hop and EDM influences… That’s what we need to work on now; separating the real country from the fake country.

You’re right. Millennials are also living in a state of perpetual adolescence, where the most important things in their lives are professional sports, iPhones, fantasy leagues, video games, Twittering, Instagraming, porn, and superhero movies. Along with this, they have similarly primitive and adolescent tastes in audio entertainment.

Superhero movies have plenty of substance. I have two passions: real country music and dc/marvel heroes, as weird a combination that is. I am a millennial, but being a superhero geek is the only thing I’m guilty of. I hate rap and EDM influences in country just as much as nonmillenials.

This idea that Millennials are somehow lazy is a ridiculously simplistic notion.

Due to the high present levels of income inequality, the generation can be divided into two groups:

1) the rich/upper-middle-class: This subset has been at the forefront of the urban renewal movement. They are also disproportionately represented in the current Web 2.0 revolution.

2) the poor/working-class: These individuals have been absolutely hammered by the recession. They have responded not by giving up, but by working hard in low-wage jobs (often below their level of qualification) to make ends meet. Through their leadership in labor movements such as the recent fast food strikes, they have also shown that they refuse to be passive about poor wages and working conditions.

As an additional note, Millennials have higher college graduation rates than any other generation in history, which also attests to their work ethic.

And I would even say the superhero stuff are in a similar situation: DC’s New 52 and Marvel NOW are just as bad as Bro-Country! Complete garbage! They completely lost sight of what the characters are supposed to represent. Except the Marvel’s Avengers movie series with Robert Downet Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth are really good. But the DC movies, particularly the Batman vs Superman crap is taking influence from the New 52, and it’ll be horrible! CYBORG IS A TEENAGER AND NOT EXPERIENCED ENOUGH TO BE IN THE JUSTICE LEAGUE! ONLY THE MOST ICONIC HEROES IN DC GET TO DO THAT, NOT SOME FOOTBALL PLAYER WHO GOT IN AN ACCIDENT, BECAME A CYBORG, AND SOMEHOW GOT RECRUITED! IT’S ONLY BECAUSE HE’S BLACK! IF THEY HAD USED THE THE BLACK GREEN LANTERN (JOHN STEWART) INSTEAD OF THE WHITE GUY (HAL JORDAN) THAT PROBLEM WOULD BE SOLVED! I better shut up about that or I’ll completely lose credibility on this site. That was a one time thing, I promise.

First off, holy shit, Aaron tippin. I forgot all about him. I hope he is right, I hope the genre is heading in a better direction with more meaning and more substance. However, I don’t think I’ll ever be back. They lost me in the late 90s when I discovered br549 and the derailers. Side note: I would like to see Aaron tippin knock the piss out of cole swindell. Just sayin.

I do know Aaron Tippin, though am more familiar with his later work. But my comment was much more a rip on the state of music in 2015 than on any of Tippin’s successes. Simply that in 1990, it was much easier to gain success based on talent than on looks.

Well duh when music is not about music but image Bob Dylan wouldn’t make it either, or Leonard Cohen, or hell even somebody like Uncle Dave Meacon… with today’s standards I guessing even Dottie West and Lynn Anderson would’ve had trouble getting some play! And that’s part of the problem when you cut out some of the best talent because their talent is not in their looks… you get what you pay for.

And you basically proved all the popular charting artists today; Taylor Swift etc are popular in part and in many cases in LARGE part because they are attractive. Image first music second, sometimes a distant second.

It’s been argued here that she isn’t attractive by mainstream standards and that is why she went country first, because country is more accepting of acts who are not bombshells. Then once she proved herself she could jump ship and now everyone thinks she’s hot stuff. In pop music you really have to start out hot or sexy or highly attractive right out of the gate. Unless your “subpar” looks or heavier build are the selling point to an extent (see Megahn Tranoir).

And even if Swifts fanbase is mostly girls (and gays) if she didn’t have at least above average looks we would never have heard of her period. Girls don’t support ugly girl anymore than boys do.

You gotta stand for something is one of the best neo-traditional country songs from the early 1990s, but I can’t say I cared for any of his other hits, and by 1993, I thought a lot of his songs were on the vanguard (or at least indicative) of mainstream country’s decline in the 1990s (e.g. Kiss This, Working Man’s PhD etc. all had the rock guitars with heavy fiddle combination.)

The only song of his I’ve heard since 2001 was Drill Here, Drill Now–in other words he put bad rock music (with no fiddles) to a McCain campaign slogan.

“I don”™t see his 25th Anniversary Tour as a real milestone for taking back country music.”

Whoa, let’s tap the brakes for just a second. The reason I posted this is because I thought his quote about country music improving were interesting. I didn’t think it would fair to talk about the guy without also giving some context about what he’s up to. As you can see from other commenters, to a lot of folks he’s been off their radar. I’m definitely not saying that his 25th Anniversary tour is going to save country music, though I think Tippin symbolizes the resurgence of older artists who could markedly improve country music.

I think it’s important for us to focus on the positives whenever they present themselves. If someone like Aaron Tippin who’s been around for 25 years thinks country music is improving, I think this is an important perspective.

I’d sign on his tour any day of the week and thrice on Sunday. Dude’s music is solid and true – exactly what it needs to be. “You’ve got to stand for something” should have been a bigger anthem when it was out, and it’s exactly the type of music that kids need to hear RIGHT NOW.

We have 17 year old girls getting next-to-naked on Instagram because some stupid retailer will send them free stuff to promote on their feeds. It’s ridiculous. I’m no puritan. Hell, I have a song called “Whiskey and Women” for Christ’s sake – but there comes a time when enough is enough.

I’m reminded of “Gone in 60 seconds” when Chi McBride chastises some young car thieves who aren’t willing to work for the cars they’re stealing. “You need a role model!” he says. I”ll say this .. today’s young country listener could do a damn sight worse than Aaron Tippin.

Maybe those girls are standing for something. Maybe they are standing for the idea that they have the right to display their bodies in any manner that they like, regardless of what traditional society thinks.

I highly doubt that much thought is given to posting half naked pictures for 99% of the girls being referred to.
Just a side thought, this is more about Aaron Tippins comment on country. I really hope he’s right.

Firstly, Josh Schott of Country Perspective (who contributes a moderate amount to these discussions as well) has recently went about this weekly methodology of compiling the Top 30 Country Airplay Chart singles (previously he did it with the Top Te n of the mongrel chart)…………….and proceeding to rate each one +1 for a step in the right direction for country radio, 0 if it doesn’t really move it either direction and is just listenable, or a -1 if it is a step in the wrong direction for country radio. He then tallies up the results and the resulting grade gauges whether or not country radio as a whole is trending toward more positive or negative territory as a whole.

In all previous weeks, the final result came up negative. But this past week became the first week in its history that he netted a positive score. And because I’m mostly in agreement with his opinions on specific singles as I do with yours………………..I do honestly sense an improvement in corporate country music since early November I’d say.

*

Secondly, I hate to burst your bubble……………….but Florida Georgia Line’s “Sun Daze” is quite likely going to be a Hot Country Songs #1 within the next two weeks. -__-

It’s all but certainly going to follow Luke Bryan’s “I See You” to #1 on the airplay charts two weeks from today, and it is currently wrestling with Blake Shelton and Ashley Monroe’s “Lonely Tonight” at #2 on the iTunes Country chart (the current #1 digital “country” song, Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time”, is nonetheless in the early stages of its airplay run so won’t be able to compete for the #1 spot just yet).

I’m most confident “Dirt” will ultimately be the much-better remembered single between the two, but “Sun Daze” is yet another unmistakable hit for the duo! =P

I’m not sure how closely the Billboard Airplay Chart aligns with Mediabase’s country chart, but Sun Daze is stalled at #4 and losing spins on the Mediabase chart. Here’s to hoping that debacle doesn’t reach #1 on the charts.

I will be holding my breath until spring. Hopefully we won’t be barraged by a wave of summertime party songs.

Not really sure where you are seeing this, but I follow the Mediabase and BDS charts several times daily…..”Sun Daze” has had a significant increase in plays since it came out and never has it stalled. It just recieved an additional 189 plays this week so far, as of the time of me typing this, and im sure by when sunday rolls around (when Mediabase publishes the charts and spins for next week start) that it’ll have an increase of a bit over 300. It just went from #5 to #4. It will keep climbing, it will definitely be a #2 behind LB’s “I See You”.

Aaron Tippin’s comments about the music label trying to pull him in a bad direction reminds of similar comments made by Confederate Railroad lead singer Danny Shirley at a show I attended in Fredericksburg, VA back in the 90s. He spoke of the success of the first Confederate Railroad album and said that he’d been able to do as he pleased on the album because the suits at the label didn’t expect much. After that album scored big on the charts the suits jumped in; the second album only had half the sales of the first, and the third did even worse.

I accept Tippin’s statement that the label wasn’t deliberately trying to sabotage him, but I’m puzzled as to why they would mess with success. Why fix somethin’ that ain’t broke?

Oh for the love of god, does anybody care what this meathead says? Really? C’mon. His whole personae just drips jackass. Always has. For cripes sake he helped ruin contemporary country in the 90s just when it was kinda sorta starting to sound like country music again.

I do. Listening to what he has to say is in no way a ringing endorsement of his entire musical canon. It’s simply a perspective, and with all the debate about whether country music is improving or not, I thought it was interesting.

My point is that his resume as music critic comes from the perspective of someone who produced crap. Someone thinking country music is improving might be more credible if it was Dwight Yoakam’s, Rodney Crowell’s, or Marty Stuart’s take on the current state of country music. Sorry for the rant but these kinda of artists just make my blood boil. You mighta picked up on that. 😉

One guy who also deserves some credit for righting the ship of mainstream country at the moment is Tim McGraw. I’ve never been a fan in my life, but his last two singles were a big step in the right direction in terms of substance, and his next one, “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools,” is even stronger.

Last week I heard that “Shotgun Rider” is his biggest hit in 10 years. Hopefully he’s gotten the hint that, A) People don’t want to hear a 45+ year old man singing songs from the perspective of a 25-year-old, and B) People still like songs with a little substance.

I care. Tippin put out a lot of crap in his career but he had some good stuff too. I can’t help but smile when I hear “Ain’t Nothing Wrong with the Radio” because I’ve owned cars like that. His trucking album In Overdrive is fun too, all cover songs but still good stuff.

Ain’t that the truth? I haven’t looked it up myself, but I’d be willing to bet that for every legitimate classic like “The Race Is On” and “The Door”, George Jones probably released two forgettable Nashville Sound snoozers.

I agree that most great bands have put out some crap, but in my opinion, Tippins’ good stuff is the exception not the rule.

His best songs came out in the early 90s when Randy Travis, Patty Loveless, John Anderson, George Strait were dominant, and I think he pretty much followed (or perhaps paved) the downhill trend since then.

I love Aaron Tippin and Confederate Railroad. This is kind of a stretch from your point but it makes me wonder what type of music today’s “Country” artist would put out without influence from there label. I think it would sound even less country if that’s possible. I get a sense that many of them don’t even like country but it’s just the vehicle they used to get famous.

I see a lot of dislike for Aaron’s music on here. I loved his early stuff.

I can’t believe some of you are knocking on tippin so bad. Blue angel, ain’t nothing wrong with the radio, you’ve got to stand for something, ain’t nothing wrong with radio etc this guy had some dang good songs. Yeah, bro country might be dying but there is a new trend coming, it’s called The Sam Hunt vibe. The new people on music row love this guys sound and I have a feeling that sound will be forced on country radio and all the young people will think it’s the greatest thing since bro country.

The sound you are describing is called “metro-bro.” There’s already a term for it. From now on, whenever you describe a bro leaning song with more of an EDM or R&B influence, call it metro-bro. That is the word for it.

Remember how somebody came up with Bro-Country and then those singers adopted the term? All that did was legitimize the bad music by giving it a name. Although metro-bro is a good name for this garbage, we don’t want to give this music a name and make it a bonafide sub-genre. We want to keep it, as Trigger put it “unclassifiable drivel.”

I appreciate your feedback but I do disagree a bit. I think the value of the term “metro-bro” is that it takes the word country out of the title and replaces it with “metro.” This more accurately depicts the audience of the music and helps to disassociate it from actual country music.

Bros adopted the bro-country term because it sounded cool. There’s no way Thomas Rhett or Florida Georgia Line would want to be called “metro-bro” or metro-anything for that matter.

You’ve Got To Stand For Something is great and could be SCM’s theme song. That’s the problem with modern “country,” too many puppets on strings and what does country radio, some labels and artists stand for because it sure as hell ain’t country music.